Representative prior art patents relating to Ice Banks are U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,163,298, 4,934,150, 4,843,830, 4,823,556, 5,502,977,5,399,300, 4,497,179, 2,459,337, 5,022,233, and published EPO patent application No. 0315 439.
An ice bank for a beverage dispenser includes a complete refrigeration system that includes a compressor, condenser and evaporator all interconnected by fluid delivery conduits for delivering refrigerant through the system.
In representative prior art ice banks for dispensing beverages, the ice bank includes multiple different beverage dispensers arranged in a line that allow a customer or restaurant employee to choose an appropriate dispenser and fill a cup with the chosen cool beverage such as a softdrink. An ice bank housing surrounds an evaporator coil arrangement which in turn surrounds dispensing lines for the soft drink syrup. Both the soft drink dispensing lines and the evaporators are immersed in a water bath to enhance heat transfer from the water bath to the evaporator to cool the bath and thereby cool the soft drink dispensing line.